Grandmother [English Version]

Na carried the baby on her back, walked around the table to drink water to lull it to sleep, waited for it to fall asleep, she took off the sling, gently laid it down on the bed, and then she went out. She opened the cupboard, took out her purse and rummaged through the drawers, she put the coins on the table, and then she counted the coins. Her face suddenly turned up, her mouth mumbled:

- Died today is 23rd, only half a month until the pay period, but now only more than 4 hundred silver, how to spend it? She sighed wearily. Ms. Na is 60 years old this year, before she retired from the district finance department for 5 years. When she was at work, people still told her that she was the person "Someone said something, some people were afraid, and no one dared to claim the debt" - at that time, she could not have imagined that there would be a day when she would fall into poverty like now.

All the disasters also stem from her husband and children. Her husband is a lazy, indolent man. When she was young, because she was worried about her career, she missed the springtime, when her career was okay, that's when Mrs. Na entered her 30s, the age in the village called eh! Then, under the pressure of her parents, she accepted to marry the Pig - a village youth who had just returned to serve in the army.

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Pig family is poor, Pig's parents have 11 children, Pig is the third because the family is poor, so it is difficult to get married. The couple's family pressured him to finally get Na, the whole Ro village said the number of the pig was peach. Hoa only finished high school, but got a wife with a university degree, she is indeed the deputy financial department of the district, a real "rat with rice", "a blind cat with a fried fish"! And every time they see Na, their relatives look at her with pitying eyes and whisper to each other: "It's true that jasmine flowers are planted in buffalo shit!" Being smart and sharp, Na feels every eye and smile of the village for her. Many nights, Na silently cried, lamenting her fate of retirement, but then her parents and everyone pushed her too hard, there was no other way. Na risked her eyes and feet, letting fate push her. In fact, in terms of form, the Pig is also easy to look at, and lively, this also makes Na feel somewhat reassured. Na's mother said:

- What else is she "picky about choosing soup" for, what if she doesn't study? Husband and wife are a predestined relationship, the number is not equal to the degree, what is the meaning of words? Like me and your father, how do you get along? After getting married and "finding out" a few children, she was worried about what to do, her family was poor but simple and married and then went out to live separately, "everyone's head" to worry about. So Na's wedding took place quickly. Pig is a new soldier to serve because Na knows a lot, so after marrying Na, she asked her husband to join the district's commercial company to work as a craftsman. Na and his wife moved up to the agency's dormitory. That day, the trade and finance industry flourished like a kite, with her position Na was allocated land by the agency, Na built a house on a district street, and Na and her husband had a prosperous life because their salaries and perks were good. . Then Na in turn gave birth to two daughters. Na raising children is innumerable, because Hoi works as a storekeeper for a trade, so goods are distributed through his hands, there is something good and cheap, Hoi has a share, so his wife and children are also comfortable, there is nothing to eat and wear. Na and her husband bought model beds, sideboards, wooden furniture and lounge chairs and bought a car 81 "golden needles, tears", the whole casete radio sang "sad city" smoldering all day. Na's mother went up to play, seeing the property and furniture of Na and her husband like that, she smiled and said to her daughter:

- Well, I don't hate it forever, now that it's like this, try asking if anyone in Ro village has kept up with your house yet? I told you, husband and wife are fate, don't need a degree, son. The good-natured, old-fashioned, hard-boiled Pig made his feet and hands re-store or rightly taught him not to be "rich in the storeroom, full in the kitchen" now she still complains to the teacher, what else?

Hearing her mother say that, Na laughed and hugged her mother and said: - It's a mother's fate, isn't it? My mother stayed here to play with me all week, on Sundays, I took her to sew some clothes, some pieces of cloth were available from people, I sewed them for her. It must be said that for ten years, Na and her husband lived very happily. But after 1986, the whole country entered the period of renewal, abolished the subsidy system, factories, companies... everywhere reduced their payroll. The object of reduction is redundant human resources, who do not have professional qualifications, so the Pig is on the company's list of reductions.

Go back to work. Na's family entered a new bend. It's true that "the river has a section, people sometimes" say it too well! Na alone goes to work, one salary feeds 4 people, while the schooling needs of her two daughters are increasing day by day. The old people often say: "The mouth eats the mountain avalanche" is not wrong. However, with the position of deputy finance department, Na is still able to provide all needs for the family, although it is no longer as comfortable as when the Pig was still a storekeeper.

The Pig had no job, was born lazy, refused to move his feet or hands at all, even though the land was spacious enough to grow vegetables, or raise chickens and pigs like many families at that time. There is a little money available to pay the Pig agency to spend blatantly, only a few months have passed. Every day, the Pig immerses himself in a constant sleep from 8 p.m. the previous night to 10 a.m. the next morning, he gets up, brushes his teeth, washes his face, makes tea, smokes a cigarette alone, cooks rice at 11 a.m., waits for his wife and children. After returning home, having lunch, the Pig sleeps for a while until around 4-5 pm, he wakes up to cook dinner, then sleeps again! Pig is carefree with all changes of the times, the world, leaving everything to herself Na to manage. A penny is not earned, the Pig becomes dull, callous, lazy...And conflicts between the couple often break out.

Na does not have time to take care of her two children because she is busy with work at the agency. In the last months of the quarter, at the end of the year, the agency is very busy. Na goes all the time, comes home at 10 o'clock at night, leaves early in the morning. The two daughters are growing up, no one cares, so they dress up to play and compete with us. Studying for that reason is getting worse day by day... Then, when my eldest son finished his 12th grade, he left home to follow his son. The child also only studied until the 11th grade and left home. And Beep is the "product" of the eldest child with a Taiwanese husband. Heard he has a wife but gave birth to all children

His daughter married her son in the hope of giving him a son, but when she was pregnant, she found out that her daughter gave her tens of millions of dollars and then kicked her son out of the house. After giving birth for more than a month, he brought back his mother to adopt him and he roamed around the nightclubs and discos in Hanoi, immersed in alcohol and pleasure. From time to time it will drag you home to report to your parents for weeks and then leave again. It has nothing to do with Bep. But because she had to save face with her relatives, her neighbors still told her to marry a director in Hanoi.

However, she did not end her suffering. By the time she retires, she has also accumulated more than 700 million dong. She hid her husband and children intending to bring that money to the bank in case the couple was old and weak, did not expect the second child to cheat while she and her husband were away, it took her boyfriend to break the safe, steal all the money and leave.

More than a year later, it returned with weird tattoos covering both thighs, hands, "blue eyes, red beak, blond hair". It wears tattered shorts that are tight to the groin, the shirt is short, revealing the entire navel cavity revealing the tattoo of two green centipedes, it walks and talks aggressively. She wanted to kill it but then had to grit her teeth and endure it because she was worried about saving face...they would get bored sometimes crawling back home to catch their parents to cook, wash, serve...whenever they came back, All day long they just plug their faces into the phone, sometimes laughing and shouting, sometimes swearing, swearing loudly like fools! After a few days, she left again... so she fell into poverty and lived in pain and torment. While Mr. Hoi was lazy all day, he was immersed in smoke and fell into slumber, he poured out his whole life. family burden on the wife's head...

Mrs. Na woke up, she was bewildered when she realized she was lying in the recovery room of the private clinic "Happiness" - a clinic of a group of Chinese doctors. She felt dizzy, wanted to sit up but felt dizzy. She turned to lie on her side, the nurse saw that she was awake and asked: - Are you awake? Today these greedy people took two more units of blood than usual... so you passed out. They should've checked it out, but these Chinese are so careless.

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- How long have I been here? - Yes, it's been more than three hours! Hearing this, Mrs. Na sat up abruptly. - I have to go back to you! - I'm still tired, I can't go home like this. - Are not! I had to go home because I sent my grandson to my neighbor to take care of me. I couldn't stay for long. She sympathized with the procedures to help me. Knowing that she could not keep Na, the nurse immediately said: - Then you just lie down and rest for a while, wait for me to go to the account to get money for you. ... Mrs. Na took the car home, it was late. She rushed to the neighbor to pick up her son. She bathed and fed him and then put him to sleep. At more than eight o'clock in the evening, when Bep's mother and daughter returned, he told her:

- These days, it's so mysterious that I can't earn any money, she has money to give me a few hundred temporary expenses. - Money! What if you can't even earn a body when you come back and ask for money? Where do I dig for you? - She is "ky" with her daughter again! He sneered and rushed to the cupboard to open the door, he took her grandmother's wallet, opened it, and saw the five-hundred and two-hundred bills he took out and said: - She said no money! So this isn't money right? Why are you so stingy with me? He stuffed the money in his pocket, dropped his wallet on the table, and strode out the door. Mrs. Na rushed to claim the money she had just sold blood this afternoon. She planned to buy milk and diapers tomorrow for Bep's son, but he couldn't make it in time, he was out of the gate, there was a man sitting on a motorbike waiting for him. . The car sped away. Mrs. Na staggered, her mind reeling, she fell head first on the yard.

Although she was given first aid, the fall was so strong that she severed a brain artery, plus her physical exhaustion due to more than a year of hiding from people who often went to sell blood, and her advanced age, she did not survive. Mrs. Na's funeral took place in the late afternoon of the year when the rain fell. The two daughters also did not return. Mr. Hoi sullenly carried the baby Bep, followed the coffin, and the baby Bep cried bitterly and begged: - Poop...wow...because...grandmother...grandpa...meh!

Early autumn

afternoon September 6, 2018

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